Check insurance status of vehicles before boarding — NIC

The National Insurance Commission (NIC) has charged the public, especially passengers, to always check the insurance status of vehicles before boarding them.

Mr. Charles Ansong Denkyi, a Senior Manager in charge of Marketing and External Relations, NIC, said the public could send the vehicle registration number to the short code *920*57# on any mobile telecommunication network to ascertain the validity of the insurance cover of the vehicle.

Mr. Denkyi, who was the chairman at an event organized by the Young Africans for Opportunities (YAFO) to launch the “2022 Driver Mo” report on insurance experience in Ghana, said it was the mandate of NIC to reduce the number of uninsured vehicles on the road but needed the support of the public.

He said, “we need to work together to tackle the menace of fake motor insurance,” stressing that is the reason why the NIC has provided a central information platform for all insured vehicles, “to ensure that the public knows the insurance status of the vehicle before boarding.

“If the vehicle is not insured or the insurance has expired, do not board, it is better to wait for some minutes to board a vehicle that is insured than to rush to board an uninsured one.”

Mr. Denkyi explained that the public must be sure that the vehicle was insured with a genuine insurance company and that the insurance cover had not expired.

He also called on accident victims to acquire the needed documentation and request for the claims due them and encouraged accident victims to report any insurance company that refused to pay their claims to the NIC for the needed action.

“Sensitization and awareness are very important in the insurance industry,” he added and called on the public to read the insurance information, ask the relevant questions, and be satisfied before joining any insurance package. Don’t forget that the end result is the company’s ability to pay claims should the unexpected happens.”

Mr. Nathaniel Dwamena, YAFO Project Lead, and Founder stated that the report would help transform the motor vehicle insurance industry.

He noted that there were some determinants, including education, cost of insurance, and preferences of customers, which generally affected the insurance sector and added that education was key to fa patronage of insurance products.

He said the ‘Driver Mo’ report was based on exclusive research on vehicle insurance which aimed at stopping police harassment of drivers and instilling driver behavourial changes.